1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is self-contained systems for cooling beverage containers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many self-cooling beverage containers have been proposed in the past, but there has been no commercial use of such containers due to their high cost, low refrigeration efficiency, lack of overall simplicity, and in some cases, lack of safety.
These prior containers disclose systems where refrigeration occurs either by gas expanding adiabatically, or where a liquid refrigerant absorbs heat during vaporization. Each of these systems are relatively inefficient and do not generate sufficient refrigeration to rapidly cool a beverage in a container when activated.
The objects of the present invention are to provide a self-cooling insert for a disposable beverage container which will overcome the aforesaid problems by providing an insert which is relatively simple to manufacture, that is thermally efficient so that the beverage contents will be cooled quickly upon opening of the container, and will not pose a danger to people drinking beverages from such containers.